Dr. Victoria Stevens PhD

Dr. Victoria Stevens holds degrees in philosophy, clinical psychology and psychoanalysis. Her research specialty is the study of the development and inhibition of creativity in children and adults, with an emphasis on the relationship between creative thinking, the brain and cognitive processes. Stevens has integrated her experience as a professional musician and dancer with her expertise in psychology and pedagogical theory to develop innovative art education curricula and teacher training programs. Through the International Center for Educational Youth Development she has designed and taught programs that build creative and leadership skills in Nigerian youth. She developed a curriculum for the acclaimed arts program at the accelerated Charter School in South Central Los Angeles, and serves as an arts consultant for the LA Unified school system, Young Musicians Foundation and numerous other arts and education organizations.

Stevens is on the faculty of California Institute of the Arts and is an adjunct professor in the masters and Ph.D. programs at the Newport Psychoanalytic Institute, Pacific Graduate Institute and Santa Barbara Graduate Institute for Infant and Child Development. She lectures in schools internationally, including Cambridge University and the Tavistock Clinic in London, and has been a featured speaker at numerous prestigious arts, science and education symposiums. Most recently, Stevens served as the principle researcher on a study for the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles that examines the relationship between exposure and training in contemporary art and creative thinking, and metacognition in elementary school students (published in the spring of 2008.)